By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
www.nordis.net

TUBA, BENGUET — A German national is now the subject of a manhunt by authorities for violating the Anti-Human Trafficking Act of 2003 which punishes prostitution, slavery and sexual exploitation. Cases for violations of various laws on child abuse and violence against women were also filed against the German national.

The fugitive is identified by authorities as Andreas Gruschwitz Leistner who has kept six wives and sired 11 children from his three wives in a secluded area in Cabuyao, Poblacion of this town.
The local office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reported that Leistner arrived in 1993 as a tourist and civilly married afterwards Ana (not her real name) in Pasay City.
After the couple stayed for three years in Germany, they came back to the country in 1997 where they bought a land a secluded area in Cabuyao, Tuba, Benguet.

A carpenter hired by Leistner started their two-storey house in the area, latter he dismissed him (carpenter) and finished alone the construction of the said house, according to a Nordis source. The Leistner residence is very far from Cabuyao proper where sources claim their electricity bills are not delivered directly to the Leistner house, but just left in Cabugao proper.

As Ana could not bear a child, Leistner brought to their home three women in succession, namely Baby, Carmel, and Daisy (not their real names) and treated them as wives with whom he sired seven, three, and a child, respectively.

Another two women were brought home by Leistner as wives for few months, but sent them away after they they failed to bear any child with him, Nordis learned.

The local DSWD said that they formed a rescue team after Carmel reported to them the violence inflicted by Leistner against her person. In their two rescue efforts this month, they recovered six children of Leistner.
The remaining children are allegedly with Leistner and Ana, his legal wife, according to authorities, who believed that the two fugitives are still at large in Baguio City.

Nordis learned that cases were already filed in the Regional trial Court in Benguet against Leistner and Ana. The cases were violations of the Anti-Human Trafficking Act (RA 9208), Anti-Child Abuse Act (RA 7610), Anti-violence Against Women (RA 9262), and simulation of births.

As Leistner is still at large, questions are cropping up like how he managed to keep so many wives undetected for so long and why he still wants to have more children.# nordis.net